Biting her lip to keep herself calm, Sam stared him down once again.
"Danny, it's me, Sam…your wife," she told him.
No change came across his confused expression. She lost herself for a moment in the depths of his still deep cobalt eyes, wondering what had happened to him. He continued to stare at her like she was the strangest thing that he had ever seen. Lost in her own thoughts, Sam could not hear the voice of the nurse coming up behind Danny's wheelchair until she was in plain sight.
"Come on Daniel, it's time to go back to your room," she cooed kindly, grabbing the back of his wheelchair.
He was about to be pushed out the door when he grabbed Sam's arm, stopping his nurse.
"Come with me," he pleaded, staring innocently into her eyes.
Shifting her gaze, Sam stared at the nurse, giving her a questioning glance, looking for a sign of assurance. Smiling she nodded, helping Sam out of her chair, as she dropped her forgotten book back into the basket beside her. Silently, the trio made their way down the hall, stopping at room 343/
"There you go," the nurse cooed gently, as she lifted Danny from his chair, into his bed, pulling the white sheets of it around him tightly, then showing Sam to the evergreen chair by the bed, letting her sit down.
Almost within the exact instant that Danny's head hit the soft pillow beneath him, he fell fast asleep. Silence enveloped the room, only to be snuffled out as Danny began to snore, signifying that he was sleeping peacefully. Entranced, Sam stared at his still form, while she was comforted by the thought that he was still alive, she was also troubled that he could not even remember her. Letting herself be consumed within that peace but for a moment, Sam laid her head down on the sheets, drifting off to sleep as well.
Hours later, Sam awoke to a hand shaking her shoulder. Startled, Sam jolted awake, her gaze immediately shifting in Danny's direction. He had not stirred since she had last seen him. Now confused more then ever Sam's gaze shifted around the room searching for the source of the disturbance, turning in her chair, Sam saw a stately, trim man, his dark skin gleaming as the sunlight streamed on him from the window at his back, matching his dark hair and eyes, accenting his pale white lab coat.
"Who are you," he asked her courtly, curious.
She stared at him intently for a moment through swollen, crimson stained eyes, not able to answer his question. Finally, minutes later, she broke the silence surrounding them to answer him.
"My name is Samantha Fenton," Sam replied distantly.
"Are you a cousin, sister, or…" he inquired but before he could say another word, Sam cut him off.
"I'm his wife," she remarked soberly, moving to grasp Danny's pale, limp hand as the physician began to perform his necessary check-ups.
After yet another unnerving moment of silence passed between the two, Sam spoke up once again.
"What happened to him," she asked, stroking his matted, ebony hair.
Silently, the doctor sat down, beginning his horrendously long explanation.
"He was brought here about two weeks ago by an unnamed source who told us that they found him down in a back alleyway near Carson Street just down the road. For the first few days after he arrived here his condition was touch and go, we weren't even sure that he would make it through his first night. By the end of the first week, it his condition had deteriorated so badly that he had landed in a coma. At about the second week, he woke up. For days he was unresponsive to any kind of stimuli and when he did finally start responding, it became clear that he had lost the majority of his memory retaining capacity with the exception of what had happened to him a few weeks earlier and his own name. Naturally, this was cause for great concern so, I ordered a C.T. scan, and an M.R.I.," he paused for a moment, making Sam shudder with nervousness.
"What did you find," she questioned, biting her lip instantly
"He suffered severe head trauma, a cause for the loss of memory and was also significant damage to his cerebral cortex, causing paralysis from the neck down. Now, as we understand after doing several tests his condition is only temporary and it will clear up once his brain is given a chance to heal. However, it is nearly impossible to tell how long that will take, whether it is days, weeks, months or even years but I am certain that it is temporary. Right now, his prognosis is looking very good, and I would wager to say that it'll probably be a good one or two weeks, for sensation in his limbs to return and a month or two for full recovery, but that's only an estimate, don't get your hopes up," he finished bitterly.
Sam nodded understandingly, turning back toward Danny. Two days later, Sam was released from the hospital along with little Kati. While trying to spend as much time with Kati as she could, she was also watching Danny like a hawk. After nearly a week of repeating the same pattern, his physicians were amazed to see that he was improving at a drastic rate. Saturday morning came and saw Sam off just as every day had for the past week. It was still strange for her to be around him but have him not know who she was. She had brought Kati with this time, hoping to cheer Danny up, who had of late been depressed at his inability to remember her or anything else for that matter. When she entered his room, holding the infant in her arms Danny's facial expression immediately brighten.
"Hey Danny," she piped, sitting down on the chair beside his bed.
He smiled weakly, clutching her hand.
"Who's this," he asked curiously, taking a playful jab at Kati's tiny face. Danny was enthralled with unknowingly his little girl, and Kati was equally enthralled with her Daddy, and had not hesitated to accept him as a trusted adult, and began to sleep like a rock.
"This is Kati," she replied, "would you like to hold her," she questioned, holding his daughter out to him.
"May I," he started; Sam nodded reassuringly, placing the newborn in his arms.
His strong arms nearly swallowed his young daughter, as he began to steadily rock her back and forth. A small smile played across Sam's face. Suddenly, Kati squirmed in his grasp, waking up slowly. Sam stared shocked as Kati's eyelids cracked open revealing her shock blue eyes, exact replicas of her father's. Danny's facial expression radiating a look of pure shock, and then, sudden realization as his eyes went wide.
"Danny, are you okay," Sam asked, concerned.
"Sam, she's beautiful," he remarked in a trance-like tone of voice.
He stopped briefly, carefully moving his arm out from underneath his child and gently grabbing Sam's face, kissing her softly on the lips.
"What was that for," Sam muttered after she had caught her breath.
"Not giving up on me," he whispered.
Sam's heart nearly stopped in her chest cavity.
"Danny, do you know who I am," Sam asked excitedly.
"You're Samantha Elizabeth Fenton; you're twenty-two years old. We've been friends since first grade, even dated briefly in high school, before you broke up with me because of my archenemy Vlad Plasmius, we were married about a year ago, and our first child is on the way."
"Danny," Sam whispered pointedly.
"Wait, you don't mean," he shrieked, staring at the child in his muscular arms, "when?"
"A few weeks ago, what happened to you out there," Sam asked.
"I was overrun, apparently Plasmius had more support then I gave him credit for. Things got out of hand and out of my control, and next thing I know, I wake up here, with no memory of how I got there or anything before the fight with the exception of my name."
For a moment, silence enveloped the room as Danny ran out of things to say. Tears trekked down Sam's face stubbornly, as she held him close, determined to never let him slip from her grasp again.